Cassel's Company

[Truesight]

I've got my first game of Warhammer 40k tomorrow against a mate (Iron Hands) who is also playing for the first time, so I figured it was an opportune moment to introduce my force. Nothing it seems is better motivation to paint then the thought of them being on the table next week.

Please forgive the image quality I only have a mobile phone for pictures at the moment.

The three Russ' are more or less done, I didn't glue the weapons so I can enjoy versatility in their loadout, the infantry only need basing at the moment, but it will have to wait till next week. I have found infantry take forever to paint, and I love painting tanks, we'll see how that affects later lists.

We'll be battling it out at 1000 points in our local GW store, which the owner has offered to help run it since we are really new with rules, and Mondays are slow. We are allowing proxying, and I'll be changing two of my Russ' to demolisher variants using it.

I told my opponent ahead of time to bring lots of AT, as I'm running full mechanised and I don't want it to be a mismatch. After making our lists we swapped them ahead of time.

I'm bringing:

HQ:

Tank Commander Pask, Leman Russ Punisher, Hull Lascannon, Multi melta Sponsons, Heavy Stubber,

with Leman Russ Executioner, Plasma Cannon Sponsons, Hull Heavy Bolter

Troops:

Veterans with 2x plasma gun, in Chimera with Multilaser and Heavy bolter

Veterans with 2x Melta, in Chimera with Multilaser and Heavy Bolter

Heavy Support:

Wyvern

Wyvern

Leman Russ Eradicator with Multi Melta Sponsons and Heavy Bolter

He is bringing:

HQ:

Master of the Forge, Artificer Armour Digital Weapons, the Iron Stone, Gorgon's Chain

Elites:

Dreadnought with Assault Cannon, powerfist and storm bolter

Troops:

Tactical Squad, 10 marines with grav and missile launcher, Vet Sergeant with Powerfist and Stormbolter

Tactical Squad, 10 marines with grav and missile launcher, Vet Sergeant with Powerfist and Stormbolter

Heavy Support

Ironclad Dreadnought, Powerfist with storm bolter, Chainfist with Heavy flamer, Ironclad assault launchers.

Vindicator with Siege shield and storm bolter

The to do list of models ready to be added to the army:

3 Units of Death Korps infantry

1 Lascannon Heavy Weapons Squad

1 Unit of Death Korps Grenadiers

3 Sentinels (What is a good drill to magnetise these with? My current one just doesn't cut it)

2 Commissars

I'd really appreciate any advice this fine forum has to offer, wish me luck in my first game, hopefully I'll return with tales of a foe crushed under the tracks of my tanks

[WarriorFish]

Good luck! Let us know how it goes :tu: I think you've got a solid tank list at low points, and should have some advantages over his. Keep your force together and shooting for as long as possible - they'll be coming right for you!

 

Your models look nice to me so I'm looking forward to seeing more. As for drilling, you can't beat a Dremmel but unfortunately such quality doesn't come cheap. What drill do you have? I'm sure you can get a decent one without breaking the bank :)

[Kriegsmacht]

Really nice force. I'm back to building my tank force so interested in seeing how you do. Good luck and let us know how you did!

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

I too am interested to see how it goes, as I am also planning a tank heavy list.

[Truesight]

A victorious day for Imperial Guard forces!

 

We rolled randomly for mission and deployment, getting The Maelstrom of war- Cleanse and Control deployed using Vanguard Strike.

 

 

We deployed objectives, and my opponent won the roll off and chose to let me deploy first.

 

Lots of terrain on the board made avoiding difficult terrain interesting, but definitely enjoyed the city fight.

 

He then deployed:  Combat squadding both his troops of marines into missile and special weapons sections.

 

The Iron Hands tried to seize, and failed, so I went first.

 

The Chimera's moved forward, with the plasma vets disembarking near the a building with vantage points.  All three Russes lumbered forward looking for fire arcs.  Both Pask and the eradicator failed to do any damage, Pask’s lascannon hitting cover, and the eradicator lacking targets, but the executioner turned an entire squad of marines to slag (The closest ones in his deployment picture).  Securing First Blood and eliminating a missile launcher!

The Wyverns both fire and secured two dead marines.

 

Iron Hands Turn 1-

Everything moves forward at top pace, while grabbing as much cover as possible.  The Vindicator takes a shot, catching my wyvern's side and eradicator rear armour!  He penetrates on both rolls, and I make both 5+ cover saves.  The Emperor Protects!

 

Imperial Guard Turn 2-

The Pask moves forward, wrecking the Vindicator with glances without even needing his lascannon or melta.

(Pask is the exterminator and the vanquisher is the executioner bodyguard)

 

 

Both Veteran squads pile out of the chimeras and into cover, securing objectives.  Chimeras, Executioner and wyverns eliminate another squad of marines.

 

Irons Hands turn 2-

Dreadnoughts and what is left of the marines move full pace forward, the marines on the executioner side leaving cover to attempt a charge,

The two Dreadnoughts seek out the tanks in the middle, the ironclad charging the eradicator and shaking it with its chainfist. The last missile squad enters a building adjacent the plasma vets to attempt an assault.

Shooting shakes one of my wyverns, and immobilises my melta vets chimera.

 

Imperial Guard turn 3:

The Executioner eliminates another squad with help from the melta vets.

The Plasma vets rapid fire into the marines in the building next to them but only bring down one.

Pask brings the Iron clad in cover down to one hull point.

 

Iron Hands turn 3:

Marines jump out of the building and prepare to assault the veterans, while the Ironclad moves forward, chasing the reversing Eradicator.

The Master of the forge and the Dreadnought both charge Pask! I messed up and let them get too close. 

The Iron clad fails his charge on the Eradicator.

 

Pask loses a multi melta sponson from the Master of the Forge's Powerfist, while the Dreadnought smashes two hull points off the Executioner.

The Plasma vets on the far side are charged by four marines.  They shoot one on the way in, take two casualties and fail to do any damage in melee.  They hold their leadership test with a 2.

 

Imperial Guard 4:

The far chimera strips a wound off the Master of the Forge, and Pask backs up, and hoses him to paste with his punisher cannon.  The Melta vets leave cover and explode the dreadnought attacking the Executioner.

The Eradicator fails to hurt the Ironclad.

The Plasma veterans continue their melee with the last three marines, and take another two casualties.  In return they bayonet all three!  Field promotions all round!

 

Iron Hands Turn 4:

The last Iron Hands model, the Ironclad dreadnought attempts to go down gloriously by killing Pask, he does not make his charge.

 

Imperial Guard Turn 5:

The Dreadnought is sent to the Emperor, dying with its friends on the field.

 

Our honoured dead:

 

Final Score:

Iron Hands: One Objective point.

Imperial Guard: Two Objectives, First blood, Slay the Warlord, and 2 points for kingslayer.

 

6-1 victory!

 

Lessons:  Be very careful with distances on Pask, the squad could have easily been annihilated by those dreads/powerfist.  I may very well try a vanquisher variant for my next match.

-Ordinary guardsman can be damn heroic at times.  The veterans did great work for their cost, and the chimera’s were surprisingly tough and dangerous.

-I need to triple check how wyverns work, as they did not seem very damaging, although this may just be a bad match up for them, with only 20 marines in squads of 5 to shoot.

-Executioners are amazing.

-Watch the side armour on Chimera's, AV 10 is sad, even in cover.

-Eradicators are underwhelming against marines, recommendations on other armour variants?

 

We will be hopefully upping it to 1250 next week, I plan to add sentinels and stormtroopers, and change up some of the tanks.

 

Any advice to offer?  I told my friend to join the Bolter and Chainsword as it is so valuable for tactics, I expect the veteran marine commanders are helping him plot revenge as we speak.

[Ceddyn]

Looks like you and your opponent had a good time and learned a lot.

 

Guardsmen can do extraordinay things, but don't count on them beating the odds every time. Usually when a couple of marines charge into a 10 man squad you'll end up with a dead squad. When they win unexpectedly it can even lead to hilarious situations.

I was helping someone with his 1st battle. He had 4 marines withing charge distance of 8 guardsmen. When I advised him to assault them he was skeptical, because my squad outnumbered his. I assured him his marines would annihilate the guardsmen. Long story short: it took him several battles before he dared to assault guard again.

 

I was wondering why you disembarked your veterans from the chimera's. They're much safer inside and can still fire their 2 special weapons from the hatch.

[Truesight]

We did have a great time.

 

The plasma vets I disembarked so I could get them to the upper level of a tall buidling.  There wasn't much good line of sight, it did mean they got into a melee though. 

 

Thinking back the Melta vets would have been better served inside their Chimera still however.  I'll definately use it next time, thanks for the advice.

[nismogrendel]

Nice batrep.  Sounds like an awesome game. 

For your drill question, I've been using the citadel drill for some magnet sizes, works great for me.  For larger diameter magnets, I use just a bit by itself, I wrapped it in duct tape to make it easier to turn without ravaging my hands.

 

I'm looking for a pin vise type of tool for regular drill bit sizes, but haven't found one yet.

[Truesight]

Thanks Nismo . On Warriorfish's reccomendation I'm going to try and borrow a Dremel drill a friend has to try it out, any tips to keep it 'straight'? My initial attempt on sponsons went a bit lopsided.

[nismogrendel]

When you say straight, do you mean centered?  A lot of my gun barrels came out a little off center, and some are way off center. 

I get best results when I take an xacto knife and make a tiny hole in the center.  Then I use my smallest bit (lasgun sized bit from GW), then if it is something larger than a lasgun (bolter, etc) I go up a bit size and expand that lasgun sized hole.

 

I know my hand drill wants to walk the bit off center when I'm not super careful with it.  Watch out for that with the dremel, don't let it skip to the side and drill out the side of your gun barrel.

[WarriorFish]

Well done on the win! :D Sounds like you had some luck on your side, you can be sure your opponent will be devising a better list to confront you with next time ;) 5 Marine squads aren't great targets for blasts, Wyverns rely on weight of dice but I'd still keep them for the moment and see how they do in a few more games. As for more capable Marine hunting, the Executioner will splat even Terminators well, or there's the old stalwart in the standard Russ and its Battle Cannon :)

 

For drilling, make sure you practice a little on scrap first. The rest is down to patience and making sure you do the right preparation work - especially on your surface and securing the piece to drill :tu:

[Truesight]

When you say straight, do you mean centered? A lot of my gun barrels came out a little off center, and some are way off center.

I get best results when I take an xacto knife and make a tiny hole in the center. Then I use my smallest bit (lasgun sized bit from GW), then if it is something larger than a lasgun (bolter, etc) I go up a bit size and expand that lasgun sized hole.

I know my hand drill wants to walk the bit off center when I'm not super careful with it. Watch out for that with the dremel, don't let it skip to the side and drill out the side of your gun barrel.

Yup, my first attempts to drill ended with holes at an angle, going out the side of the sponsons. It didn't help that it was a cheap hand drill, hopefully I'll have better luck with the dremel.

Well done on the win! Sounds like you had some luck on your side, you can be sure your opponent will be devising a better list to confront you with next time 5 Marine squads aren't great targets for blasts, Wyverns rely on weight of dice but I'd still keep them for the moment and see how they do in a few more games. As for more capable Marine hunting, the Executioner will splat even Terminators well, or there's the old stalwart in the standard Russ and its Battle Cannon

For drilling, make sure you practice a little on scrap first. The rest is down to patience and making sure you do the right preparation work - especially on your surface and securing the piece to drill

Thanks, definately a bit of luck involved in the match, he didn't have great rolls with his dreads when they finally locked horns with my armour. I'll ensure that the sentinel pieces aren't hand held like my last attempt, I think that's what did me in.

[WarriorFish]

Don't let that detract from your victory - for when dice are a core mechanic of the game luck is always involved ;) I'm sure the dice gods will look away from you soon enough! :P

 

As nismo said a pilot hole is essential, then it's just a matter of going slowly and keeping an eye on your angles. I like to keep an eye on it from two or three angles to make sure it's not just straight from the direction you're looking. It's easy once you get the hang of it :)

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

Some dremel kits come with a press jig (acts like a drill press) and using a vise with cushioned jaws will keep it still, mark the pilot, and drill it out. That's a ton of work, and a lot of equipment, but it's useful for home improvement projects too.  

[Ceddyn]

On plastic models I prefer a hand drill. A good drill bit cuts well into plastic, so it's quite fast too. It could be inexperience with the Dremel, but I find I have more depth control and precision when I drill manually.

Don't let that detract from your victory - for when dice are a core mechanic of the game luck is always involved I'm sure the dice gods will look away from you soon enough!

Having a plan B (and sometimes a plan C) helps

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

Look at my sig.

 

No OPLAN (Operations PLAN) survives initial contact with the enemy. 

[Vel'Cona]

Unless it's designed by CREEEEEEEEED! right?

[WarriorFish]

Well, sort of. In that case the plan not surviving contact with the enemy is actually part of the plan all along... it kind of gets complicated after that. Best not to think of it too much :P

 

In any case, being flexible is the hallmark of a good general. Adapt to your opponent and you'll find victory follows! The best thing to do is account for bad luck too, each dice roll augmented or removed entirely does that. It's one of the reasons I like template weapons for example :)

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

WF's got it. Creed is a Tactical Genius because he anticipates and is so good he can outdo Tzeentch at the "I know that you know that I know you know that you knowing I know is known" therefore, "Just as planned"... 

 

God that hurt...

[StormWarg]

I am the Iron Hands commander.
I got well and truly thwomped by Truesight.
 

He outgunned me, out ranged me and out maneuvered me.

Well played my friend.

[WarriorFish]

Welcome to the B&C StormWarg, I'm sure you can improve your list and do better next time. Perhaps with a shiny new codex..? ;)

[Truesight]

A new battle!

This time we upped the points to 1250.  Unfortunately dremel doesn't seem to sell drill bit sets in Australian hardware stores, so the sentinels are shelved while they are imported.  Instead I took the Lord Commissars advice and put in more guardsmen!

 

The Krieg 8th Armour

 

-HQ-

 

Ministorum Priest- in Combined Squad

Tank Commander Pask in Vanquisher with hull lascannon,

Executioner with plasma cannon sponsons and hull heavy bolter

Company Command Squad with 2 plasma guns, in Chimera with Multilaser and hull heavy bolter

 

-Troops-

 

Infantry Platoon

Infantry Squad with flamer, sergeant with power axe and melta bombs

Infantry Squad with flamer, sergeant with power axe and melta bombs

Infantry Squad with flamer, sergeant with melta bombs

Infantry Squad with flamer, sergeant with melta bombs

Platoon command Squad

 

Veterans with 2 melta guns, in Chimera with Multilaser and hull Heavy Bolter

 

-Heavy Support-

 

Leman Russ Exterminator with Multi melta sponsons and hull lascannon

 

Wyvern

 

 

 

Clan Raukaan sought to stop the armoured advance, bringing the following:

 

-HQ-

 

Master of the Forge, Digital weapons, Gorgons Chain, The Ironstone

 

-Elites-

 

Dreadnought, extra armour, twin linked lascannon

 

Terminator Assault Squad 5x Thunderhammer and Storm shield

 

-Troops-

 

Tactical squad, 10 marines with grav gun and multi melta, sergeant with melta bombs, power fist, storm bolter, teleport homer.

Tactical squad, 10 marines with grav gun and multi melta, sergeant with melta bombs, power fist, storm bolter, teleport homer.

 

-Fast Attack-

 

Stormtalon Gunship with skyhammer missle launcher and twin linked assault cannon.

 

-Heavy Support-

 

Vindicator with extra armour, siege shield, storm bolter.

 

Raukaan won the roll off for missions, choosing the eternal war table and getting Big Guns Never Tire.  I was excited by the name, then after reading realised it isn't as beneficial to Guard as the name would suggest.  Oh well.

 

We placed down 5 objectives, and got Dawn of War for our deployment. Krieg won the roll off for deployment and chose to place first.  One objective was on our side at the entrance to the big building hiding the wyvern, two objectives in the centre on either side of the terrain, with two final objectives in Raukaans deployment. Night fighting was in effect.  I tucked my wyvern and exterminator heavy support choices out of sight, and placed down my tanks where they could get the best arcs of fire, with a large glorious blob of infantry to protect the tank commander, and advance.

 

Raukaan deployed defensively, keeping three of his combat squadded marine behind intervening terrain in the centre, while the last deployed on the objective in a building central to his deployment zone.  His vindicator, warlord and dreadnought deployed out of sight behind heavy building cover.

 

Raukaan tried to sieze, failed and thus Krieg turn one began.

 

The veterans and commander in chimeras moved forward, keeping to cover on the left side of the field, while the exterminator moved out from behind the building.  The Platoon paced forward stoically in silence as the tanks behind them roared forward, the executioner hunting marines while Pask eyed the vanquisher.  The commander tried to issue a Forwards for the Emperor! command, but it is drowned out by the ravings of the priest, and ignored.  Pask, succeeds on his command, and the executioner opens up on the closest squad of marines, killing four, with the last one making some miraculous saves.  Lacking a more worthwhile shot, Pask hammers vanquisher round and lascannon shot into the lone survivor, but he dodges these as well.  Truly the emperors finest.  The Wyvern assails the second closest marine squad, scoring 3 kills.

 

Raukaan turn 1

The vindicator moves forward to the cover of the building, leaving its hull mostly covered, but its deadly cannon ready.  The dreadnought and commander flank around the other side of the building, moving hard for the infantry squad.  The marines manoeuvre forward, and further into cover in the centre, while the tactical squad holding the objective building hunkers down. 

The vindicator takes a shot at the back of the Krieg platoon, catching both tanks of Pask's unit as well.  It scatters however, but kills a guardsmen and destroys a plasma cannon sponson on the Executioner.  Two further guardsmen die to the dreadnoughts fire.

 

Turn 2 Krieg.

Chimeras advance towards the objective, while the Krieger platoon silently advances.  The Executioner obliterates the untouched marine squad, scoring first blood, while the wyvern cleans up the two left of the backfield marine squad.  The only marine survivor of the first Executioner barrage stands alone. The platoon commander roars an order and moves toward the church objective.  Pask fired a penetrating shot into the Vindicator with his Vanquisher, which rolled a 'blows up', and is saved by cover.  Blast.  Trying to make up for their commanders failure, the Krieg infantry attempt an 11 inch charge on the vindicator, rolling snake eyes the turn ends. 

 

 

 

Turn 2 Raukaan

 

Both the stormtalon and assault terminators successfully arrive, and not a moment too soon.  Arriving exactly as planned, the terminators secure the left field objective, intimidating the chimeras approaching it.  The Vindicator fires into the Krieger platoon, yet in a catastrophic failure the round almost damages the vehicle as it explodes prematurely, injuring no guardsmen.  The Stormtalon unloads into the platoon killing five. The lone surviving marine chooses to go in glory, charging the platoon of kriegers. The ensuing wall of death engulfs him and sends him the emperor.  The Commander roasts four guardsmen while the dreadnought kills another, and they both charge the platoon.  However, the dreadnought fails his charge, and the commander is left to fight alone.   The shrill prayers of the priest empower the troopers, and 8 Guardsmen and two sergeants clash with the Master of the Forge, with a grim face and two deadly servo arms being answered by two unsheathed force axes from the sergeants.  As the cataclysm is about to begin the 8 troopers, unhindered by such unwieldy weapons, methodically bayonet and rifle butt the Master of the Forge to death.  With a shrug from the sergeants the platoon moves forward.  Slay the warlord is achieved for Krieg forces.

 

Krieg turn 3:

 

The Krieg platoon advances and secures the midfield objective, while the tanks rearrange themselves, the exterminator moving forward to fire on the vindicator, while the executioner secures a clear shot at the terminators.  The two Chimera's back off, but stay within effective range of the terminators.  The terminators are unceremoniously reduced to the emperors finest bloodstain, while Pask glances the vindicator, and the dreadnought is glanced by a chimera Multilaser.  The Kriegers again fail to charge the vindicator, which is now reversing swiftly.

Raukaan turn 3:

Howling in rage for the death of its commander, the dreadnought immobilises Pask with a lascannon shot to the side armour, while the storm talon eviscerates the commanders chimera, the disciplined veterans bailing out to safety.  The Krieg platoon had bunched up in its charge, and caught flatfooted is hit square by a demolisher shell.  10 troopers lie in ruins.  Seeking to follow up on its success, the dreadnought charges Pask but fails to make it in time.   The Raukaan vindicator earns its name and repairs itself. 

 

Krieg turn 4:

The last chimera races forward securing the second central objective, while the tanks again reshuffle and the grim troopers finally begin to overrun their opponents back line.  The last of the marine squads holding the objective in his central deployment building find no cover from the hellstorm of lasgun fire and wyvern shells, and are destroyed to a man.    The exterminator wrecks the dreadnought threatening Pask, while the executioner hammers inneffectually at the vindicator. 

 

Raukaan turn 4

Seeing the dire straights facing its ground forces, the Stormtalon gunship goes into hover mode and unloads everything into Pask’s rear armour, destroying him.  The vindicator seeks to follow up, but in the panic sends the shell flying into terrain. 

 

Krieg turn 5:

The Stormtalon is brought down in a hail of plasma, while the veterans finally catch up to the Vindicator, swarming over it and riddling it with melta bombs, the vindicator detonates in a hail of flame, and the battlefield is still.

 

Wrap up score:

Raukaan: Slay the Warlord

 

Krieg: First Blood

Slay the Warlord

Linebreaker

Three objectives

One heavy support kill

 

Final score: Raukaan 1, Krieg  13

 

Final thoughts:

-Pask in a Vanquisher is underwhelming even against ideal targets if there is lots of terrain for the enemy to utilize.  It is just too few attacks, and a few good cover saves can mean he is completely ineffectual. 

-Executioners may be in every list I run from now on.

-The Exterminator with lascannon/melta was quite dangerous, handily dealing with medium/light armour.  I could find a place for it in a list again.

-Now that I know how to properly fire a wyvern it has regained my respect.

-Big blobs of infantry are enormously fun, and quite effective, relentlessly bulldozing into the enemy while absorbing lots of attention and fire, killing along the way.

- I think I need heavy weapons teams to effectively make use of senior orders.

- Enough ordinary guardsmen with hatred and priest prayers are dangerous, to anything.

 

Thanks for reading, next game I am going to try and organise an allies game against one of the veterans around here.  Raukaan and Krieg will put aside their differences to face a greater threat, together.

 

Oh and I ordered 60 more guardsmen.  I love tanks, and I love lots of guardsmen it seems.  I guess I chose my army wisely.

[WarriorFish]

Well done, a good victory :) Looks like you're picking up a lot along the way too :tu:

[Truesight]

Any suggestions for new tank variants to try Warriorfish? I was thinking of bringing the Battle tank to the next one. Oh, and the infantry squads, what would be a situation where it would be ideal to split them up?  I like the large blob, but having a few extra groups run around could be good.

[WarriorFish]

All the tanks have their place, the question is what place you need. The standard Russ is flexible and reliable, but I do like my specialists. Demolishers to crack almost anything open and Eradicators to annihilate all but heavy infantry do well for me, often together. Best thing is for you to experiment and see what you like and what works best for you :)

 

As for blobbing don't forget it's not done at the army list stage so you can decide per game. Of course certain upgrades etc are best but options are always good to have. My preference is for independent squads as it has more tactical flexibility but good indicators are your opponent and the table. A busy table with lots of terrain to scramble across may benefit from more units, or an opponent with lots of units or nasty ones could be better handled by splitting up to outmanoeuvre or prevent easy targets. Again experimentation is key to learning what works :tu: